10 Carnethies completed the 10th running of the 53 mile Highland Fling Race along the Southern half of the West Highland Way from Milngavie to Tyndrum.
Eóin Lennon finished 4th in 7hrs 29min to claim the Scottish Athletics Ultra Trail Championship, with Ross Christie, 6th in 7hrs 44min, 2nd in Scottish Athletics Ultra Trail Championship. The race was won by American Matthew Lay in 7hrs 4min, 2 min outside the course record. Rachel Campbell was first lady in 8hrs 42min.
Other Carnethy finishers:
Craig Mattocks 16th (8hrs 26min), Gregor Heron 27th (8hrs 42min), Matthew Curry 46th (9hrs 1min), Anthony Hemmings 73rd (9hrs 24min), Mark Hartree 75th (9hrs 25min), Myvanwy Fenton-May 101st and 8th female (9hrs 41min), Oliver Harrison 108th (9hrs 49min), Fraser Mccoull 141st (10hrs 7min). Great results out of 647 finishers.
Looks like Carnethy won the Male team prize too. TBC.
Race report: http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/hoka-fling-has-record-finishers/
Provisional results: http://www.highlandflingrace.org/index.html
Graham Nash
Mark Hartree’s report:
Well, I heard loads of birds, which made me wonder why on earth people run in the country with head phones on, but I didn’t see any ostriches. Must have been doing the wrong race…
The weather forecast said the rain was due to pass after 0600 but the wind was due to be cold so what was the best clothing combo? With rain at the start I opted for a nice fetching £1.49 pink umbrella and the option of long sleeve and vest. Waterproofs seemed OTT to me as I would be too hot. My brolly would be donated to the homeless of Milngavie close to the start.
There were about 11 Carnethies milling about in the rain at the start line by the train station in Milngavie and endless queues at the loos. Not the best sign for me… At 0602 after a nice wee speech we all bundled into the first two sub 12hr pens and were off as the rain stopped on our 53 mile trot. Eion, Ross and Craig disappeared into the distance never to be seen till the end. Having reccee’d a few weeks before and looking at what splits were needed at the various checkpoints to hit certain finishing times, I was pleased to see that despite the odd emergency ablution en-route, I was ahead of my notional plan. That must mean I was running too fast, but I felt good, ate regularly from my lucky dip bag of nuts, fruit, dime bar bits and jelly babies, and even managed a blether or two with Jo Thom over Connich Hill which she ran up!
Balmaha at the 20 miles point seemed balmy so it stripped to a vest and had my first home made smoothie-blend drink which seemed to work making a much quicker turn around than eating solids. The run along Loch Lomond-side was dry and beautiful with lots of chirping birds and trees, bushes and flowers all budding. Nice stuff to notice while avoiding rocks, tree roots, puddles, ditches and burns, plus the odd goat, but still no ostriches. By Beinn Glas farm I was out of food and drink and glad for another drop back before the final 13 miles. A Muller rice and pork pie took my fancy but the pie needed focus to swallow, and as I walked away Anthony Hemmings ran past into the distance. I let him go deciding a bit of protein would be good. By the time I got going a few relay runners had gone past and Anthony had a few minutes on me. I should have stuck with the smoothie.
By Crianlarich I was glad to see Conor Cromie at the top of the last climb and grabbed a few jelly babies after smiling for the camera. With 6 miles left I upped the pace a bit and got a few people. At the rail bridge with 3 miles to go a chai gel and my last water gave me a boost and Anthony was just in sight at the farm in the distance and it was time for an attempt at an interval training finish. 3 more people were passed and there was Anthony left 300m ahead, but he had spotted me and speeded up. Damn. A fantastic reception at the finish line in Tyndrum with tea and medals capped a great day.
Matthew Laye from San Francisco won the race in 7:04 and Rachael Campbell got first lady just behind Gregor Heron in just under 8:43. Carnethy fasties scooped some prizes with Ten Carnethy finishers (with Jim H dropping out at halfway unfortunately). Eoin Lennon and Ross Christie had impressive 4th and 6th places well under 8hrs. The rest of us came in as follows.
4 473 07:29:31 Eoin Lennon M
6 153 07:44:18 Ross Christie M
16 545 08:26:20 Craig Mattocks M
27 372 08:42:13 Gregor Heron M
47 210 09:01:46 Matthew Curry M
73 367 09:24:38 Anthony Hemmings M
74 355 09:25:15 Mark Hartree M
100 271 09:41:26 Myvanwy Fenton-May F
111 353 09:51:20 Oliver Harrison M
141 562 10:07:30 Fraser Mccoull M
Fraser Mccoull and Mark Hartree did this as a series of races raising money for different worthy charities. You can search and find us at JustGiving.com if you’d like to sponsor us.
Conor Cromie got some great shots above Crianlarich. Thanks for that. Here (sorry it’s facebook)